Sunshine in the Winter
by BlueViolets87
Summary: Seamus has had a bad week and to top it off he now has an essay for Muggle Studies that he has no idea how to start. How can he write an essay on what is important to him when he feels like he has nothing? Only his friends may have an answer.


**This is for dedicated to Invisiblegirl3 as a little early Christmas/Thank You gift. I had a pretty tough week and was in a kind of a dark place you could say, especially Monday but this girl has been there for me and really helped me through. She is an amazing person and an incredible writer so I defiantly think you should check her out. I hope you enjoy. Thanks again Invisiblegirl3, you are an amazing potato.**

**Happy holidays everyone!**

* * *

Seamus stared at the parchment in front of him, willing the words to just appear by magic. Sighing, he tapped his quill against his cheek, and watched as the ink dribbled down onto the blank piece of parchment. Why were the words he needed? He only needed enough to fill a couple meters or so. Furiously, he began to just scribble down anything he could come up with, _Chairs, flying, purple, rabbit, quill, potion, brick, moonstone, inferno, volcano, failure, USELESS. _He jabbed the last word down as hard as he could, breaking the tip of the feather-tipped quill.

In a rage of anger, he ripped up the parchment into the small, little pieces. The broken up words glared at him, almost glowing. They almost looked like puzzle pieces, if only they were. That would be much more fun than a bloody essay. To calm himself down, Seamus decided to do a little trick his mother had taught him when he was young and used to have fits of anger. First he took five deep breaths and went cross-eyed. Then he ducked under his table and grabbed another piece of parchment, crumpling it up into a ball. Raising his wand under the crinkly ball, the sphere came alive with flames engulfing it and licking at the corners that used to hang out. Seamus tilted his head and took in the familiarity and warmth. He didn't know what it was, but though it caused him many problems, fire always was there for him. Man, did he feel like he needed it.

Seamus was so absorbed in the burning parchment, that he barely noticed a couple figures slip in through the portrait door until he hear a voice say, "all right there mate?"

Seamus jumped, dropping the flaming pile of ashes onto the table. Dean Thomas and Katie Bell stood behind him grinning at crazy as that cat in that crazy muggle story about a rabbit hole Dean had told him about a while ago. Dean quickly waved his wand, extinguishing the smoke and flames and repairing the table with a single muttering.

"What do you want?" Seamus asked, now annoyed without the careful flame around. Dean reached into his pocket. "You missed breakfast." He pulled out a napkin full with goodies like a still-warm roll, (though Seamus detected it could be warm due to other reasons) jam, and a slightly-squashed cinnamon took it gratefully and started to chow down.

"Ith thith shupid ethay." he told his friend finally, mouth stuffed with food. He swallowed and began again. "It's this stupid essay for Muggle Studies. I have no idea what to write, it's supposed to be an essay on anything we feel is important. I've been up for hours trying to write it."

"Man, am I glad I didn't take that class." Seeing his friend's glare, Dean continued. "What do you feel like writing about?"

"Don't you think if I knew that, I would just write it already? I can't do this! I have five hundred things running through my head all at once. Nothing is important anymore..." Seamus had had one of the toughest weeks a third year could have. His first girlfriend dumped him, he had a pile of homework the size of one of Hagrid's hippogriffs, Christmas was coming and this would be his first Christmas without his dad around; he would be over in America on business, not to mention his father would then be replaced by Seamus's cousin Fergus who had just graduated, not that he would let Seamus forget, Sirius Black was loose and close by, the Fat Lady was still recovering, leaving them with Sir. Cadogan who was just plain awful, and now all he had was a half full stomach of squished bread, a broken quill and ashes? He had had pretty bad weeks in his life but this one really took the cinnamon covered pastries. _If only I could explode like the parchment, _he thought bitterly.

"Okay..." Dean and Katie both thought for a second, when Katie's eyes lit up. "I have an idea, but you are going to have to trust me." Katie stuck out her hand out and Seamus just looked at her warily. Finally he slowly grabbed her hand and Katie almost pulled his arm out of its socket, pulling him out of the common room, Dean following close behind. The three sprinted down the stairs, their long cloaks floating out behind them. They began to gain momentum as they flew down, almost taking out a smaller Ravenclaw who was levitating Christmas decorations up onto the portraits and walls. He promptly began yelling at them as the ornaments and tinsel crashed onto the stairs. His words were thrown to the air though as the three Gryffindor were too far away.

They ended up in an abandoned classroom down by the Great Hall. They could even hear the happy shouts and shrikes of full and content students. "Okay, what are we doing here?"

Katie pulled something out of her pocket. "Eat the potato."

"What, why?"

"Don't question it, eat the potato." Dean responded.

"Eat the potato?" Seamus repeated, very confused. He narrowed his eyes. "Is this because I'm Irish? Because you should know that I hate potatoes. That it is a false stereoty-"

"Just eat it." Dean interrupted. Seamus raised an eyebrow but took it and bit into it. He spat it out quickly. Not only was it as bad as he remembered, a small piece of parchment fell out of his mouth among little potato bits. "What?"

He picked it up and inspected it. The moving figures were a little illegible but still a bit readable. It displayed a little cheesy dancing sun tap dancing on the 2D surface. Seamus couldn't help but smile and looked at his friends "What is this for?"

His friends looked at each other and smiled. "Everyone needs a little sunshine once and awhile and a small distraction to clear their head. Especially in the winter." Katie explained. She took out her wand again and raised the potato up before exploding it in a fiery explosion of color. Multiple bright smiles blazed down at Seamus before raining down on him. He felt a rush of gratitude speed through him. That was the spell he had taught him a while ago. He couldn't believe they remembered it. He had discovered it a while ago by accident, and Seamus soon after taught seeing Dean's excited face for it reminded Dean of some muggle firework display back home, Seamus had taught him, Soon they showed it to Katie after befriending the older girl. "Thanks guys."

Dean started to smile but just said, "yeah, whatever mate. Now don't you have an essay to write?" He wasn't one for long, sappy moments. Seamus started out of the room but Katie quickly stopped him.

"One thing," she said. "You still have something right here." She tapped her chin where on her friend's face, a small dot of ink resided. He wiped it off, thanking her again and hurried back to the common room. Seamus quietly brushed the ashes off the table and sat down. Wincing at his broken quill, he pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and eagle feathered quill and closed his eyes. This time the words came to him much easier. Maybe the potato did help.

_Friendship's Fiery Effect _he began. He just had to do it and see what it burst into this time.


End file.
